Machine Learning Engineer Graduate Short Video Content Ecology - 2026 Start (PhD) Join to apply for the Machine Learning Engineer Graduate Short Video Content Ecology - 2026 Start (PhD) role at TikTok Machine Learning Engineer Graduate Short Video Content Ecology - 2026 Start (PhD) 1 day ago Be among the first 25 applicants Join to apply for the Machine Learning Engineer Graduate Short Video Content Ecology - 2026 Start (PhD) role at TikTok Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features. Responsibilities

Please read the following job description thoroughly to ensure you are the right fit for this role before applying.

The Content Ecology team aims to leverage AI and machine learning algorithms to build a suite of strategic models and platform solutions that enhance user experience across various sub-businesses under the short video business line. Responsibilities

The Content Ecology team aims to leverage AI and machine learning algorithms to build a suite of strategic models and platform solutions that enhance user experience across various sub-businesses under the short video business line.

Our Focus Areas Include

TikTok Intelligent Customer Service: Utilizing large language models to address intelligent customer service and commercial customer service challenges. TikTok Local Services: Employing multimodal understanding technologies to solve content understanding and governance issues in local services. TikTok Search: Applying AI capabilities to provide hot event/topic discovery, event extraction, and summarization for the search business line. TikTok Creator Understanding: Developing multimodal creator modeling and profiling capabilities to support downstream recommendation, search, and content safety applications, enhancing the platform’s understanding of creators’ behavior, styles, and influence. Agentic LLM Applications: Building agent-style LLM systems that can autonomously plan, act, and interact to solve complex user and business problems across domains such as customer service, search, and creator tools.

We are looking for talented individuals to join our team in 2026. As a graduate, you will get opportunities to pursue bold ideas, tackle complex challenges, and unlock limitless growth. Launch your career where inspiration is infinite at TikTok.

Successful candidates must be able to commit to an onboarding date by end of year 2026. Please state your availability and graduation date clearly in your resume.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis - we encourage you to apply early.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

PhD Degree in Computer Science or a related major. Experienced in programming and algorithmic skills, proficient in languages such as Python or C++. Deep understanding of one of the following areas: NLP (Natural Language Processing), CV (Computer Vision), LLM (Large Language Models)/MLLM (Multimodal Language Models), Search, or Agentic AI. Experienced in one or more of the following topics: TensorFlow, PyTorch, or other machine learning frameworks. Good team communication and collaboration skills.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience in building ML model development for large-scale consumer-facing applications. Experience or domain expertise in one or more of the following areas is preferred: NLP, CV, LLM/MLLM, Agentic LLMs, Dialog Systems, Search, Recommendation Systems, or Creator Modeling. Published papers or hands-on project experience in the fields of NLP, CV, agent-based systems, or multimodal technologies.

Job Information

【For Pay Transparency】Compensation Description (Annually)

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $136800 - $259200 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short-term and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

For Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues; Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems; and Exercising sound judgment.

About TikTok

TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. TikTok's global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and we also have offices in New York City, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.

Why Join Us

Inspiring creativity is at the core of TikTok's mission. Our innovative product is built to help people authentically express themselves, discover and connect – and our global, diverse teams make that possible. Together, we create value for our communities, inspire creativity and bring joy - a mission we work towards every day.

We strive to do great things with great people. We lead with curiosity, humility, and a desire to make impact in a rapidly growing tech company. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn and innovate as one team. We're resilient and embrace challenges as they come. By constantly iterating and fostering an "Always Day 1" mindset, we achieve meaningful breakthroughs for ourselves, our company, and our users. When we create and grow together, the possibilities are limitless. Join us.

Diversity & Inclusion

TikTok is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At TikTok, our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

TikTok Accommodation

TikTok is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-requestSeniority level Seniority levelInternship Employment type Employment typeFull-time Job function Job functionEngineering and Information Technology IndustriesEntertainment Providers Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at TikTok by 2x Get notified about new Machine Learning Engineer jobs in San Jose, CA . AI/ML Engineer (Multiple roles and seniority levels) San Jose, CA $137,500.00-$236,500.00 1 day ago New Grads 2025 - Software Engineer - Computer Vision/Deep Learning San Jose, CA $120,000.00-$165,000.00 9 months ago San Jose, CA $137,500.00-$236,500.00 3 weeks ago New Grads 2025 - Software Engineer, Algorithm San Jose, CA $120,000.00-$165,000.00 10 months ago San Jose, CA $169,500.00-$291,500.00 1 day ago Software Engineer, Machine Learning, YouTube Ads Mountain View, CA $141,000.00-$202,000.00 6 days ago Software Engineer, AI Platform - New Grad Mountain View, CA $145,000.00-$170,000.00 2 weeks ago Sunnyvale, CA $158,200.00-$185,000.00 2 weeks ago San Jose, CA $119,000.00-$177,000.00 5 days ago San Jose, CA $120,000.00-$240,000.00 4 months ago Sunnyvale, CA $167,000.00-$185,500.00 2 weeks ago San Jose, CA $130,000.00-$182,000.00 11 months ago Sunnyvale, CA $167,000.00-$185,500.00 1 month ago Redwood City, CA $167,200.00-$250,800.00 5 days ago New Grads 2025 - General Software Engineer San Jose, CA $120,000.00-$165,000.00 6 months ago San Jose, CA $137,500.00-$236,500.00 3 months ago Machine Learning Engineer- Data Scientist San Jose, CA $120,000.00-$220,000.00 5 months ago Menlo Park, CA $180,000.00-$200,000.00 1 month ago Sunnyvale, CA $167,000.00-$185,500.00 1 week ago San Jose, CA $118,657.00-$177,000.00 1 week ago Machine Learning Engineer, Monetization EngineeringMachine Learning Research Scientist, Active Learning Mountain View, CA $152,000.00-$228,000.00 1 week ago Santa Clara, CA $137,300.00-$212,900.00 1 day ago Palo Alto, CA $120,000.00-$140,000.00 1 month ago Mountain View, CA $152,000.00-$228,000.00 2 weeks ago Machine Learning Engineer, AI (FULLY REMOTE) San Jose, CA $176,600.00-$225,900.00 2 weeks ago Mountain View, CA $138,225.00-$207,575.00 2 weeks ago Machine Learning Engineer Graduate (Search E-Commerce - San Jose) - 2025 Start (BS/MS) San Jose, CA $118,657.00-$177,000.00 2 days ago We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

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